Details
General
| Morphemic form: | {nukaq}N |
| New orthography: | nukaq, nukkat |
| Old orthography: | nukaĸ, nugkat |
| Sources: | [13, 17, 16, 19] |
| Combinations: | View list |
| Right sandhi: | Default/none |
| Inflection sandhi: | Geminating |
| Stem type(s): | Weak q-stem |
Description and behaviour
Form and usage:
Schultz-Lorentzen [16] describes the meaning of this stem as: 'the youngest in a group of siblings, all of the same sex'. However, the standard meaning today, also matching Kleinschmidt's [13], is: 'younger same-sex sibling', i.e. 'little brother' to a male, and 'little sister' to a female.
Inflection sandhi:
This stem has a very atypical form of gemination, of /k/ to /kk/. Note also the special ABS.4sg/sg form nukki with the archaic variant N{'-i}, with /VC/ deletion triggering compensatory gemination.
Inflection
Declension pattern:
| Stem type: | Weak q-stem |
| Declension type: | p-declined |
| Declension sandhi: | Geminating |
| Gemination type: | k⇒kk |
| Stem before consonant | Stem before vowel | Notable forms | |
|---|---|---|---|
| New orthography | nukka | nuka | nukaq, nukkap, nukkat, nukki, |
| Old orthography | nugka | nuka | nukaĸ, nugkap, nugkat, nugki, |
| Phonemic orthography | nukka | nuka | nukaq, nukkap, nukkat, nukki, |
Meanings and examples
I.e. 'little brother to a man' and 'little sister to a woman'.
- Piitap nukaa, Piitaq's little brother
Piitaq is a man, hence nukaq here means 'little brother'.
- Arnannguup nukaa, Arnannguaq's little sister
Arnannguaq is a woman, hence nukaq here means 'little sister'.